Lexicography

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For the term in mathematics, see Lexicographical order The pursuit of 'lexicography is divided into two related disciplines:

Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionary.

Theoretical lexicography is the academic disciplines of analyzing and describing the semantic, syntagmatic and paradigmatic relationships within the lexicon (vocabulary) of a language and developing theories of dictionary components and structures linking the data in dictionaries. This is sometimes referred to as metalexicography.

A person devoted to lexicography is called a lexicographer, famously defined in Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language (1755) as "A writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words".

General lexicography focuses on the design, compilation, use and evaluation of general dictionaries, i.e. dictionaries that provide a description of the language in general use. Such a dictionary is usually called a general dictionary or LGP dictionary. Specialized lexicography focuses on the design, compilation, use and evaluation of specialized dictionaries, i.e. dictionaries that are devoted to a (relatively restricted) set of linguistic and factual elements of one or more specialist subject fields, e.g. legal lexicography. Such a dictionary is usually called a specialized dictionary or LSP dictionary.

There is some disagreement on the definition of lexicology, as distinct from lexicography. Some use "lexicology" as a synonym for theoretical lexicography; others use it to mean a branch of linguistics pertaining to the inventory of words in a particular language.

It is now widely accepted that lexicography is a scholarly discipline in its own right and not a sub-branch of linguistics, as the object of study in lexicography is the dictionary.

Aspects

Profiling the intended users and identfying their needs
Defining the communicative and cognitive functions of the dictionary
Organizing the components of the dictionary
Choose the appropriate structures for presenting the data in the dictionary
Selecting words
Selecting collocations, phrases and examples
Choosing lemma (linguistics) forms for each word
Defining words
Organizing definitions
Specifying pronunciations of words
Labeling definitions and pronunciations for register (linguistics) and dialect, where appropriate
Selecting equivalents in bi- and polylingual dictionaries
Translating collocations, phrases and examples in bi- and polylingual dictionaries

Recommended reading Introductory books on lexicography:

Landau, Sidney, Dictionaries: The Art and Craft of Lexicography, 2nd ed., 2001
Bergenholtz, Henning/Tarp, Sven (eds.): Manual of Specialised Lexicography, 1995
Bejoint, Henri, Modern Lexicography: An Introduction, 2000
Hartmann, R. R. K., Teaching and Researching Lexicography, 2001
Hartmann, R. R. K./James, Gregory (comps.): Dictionary of Lexicography, 1998/2001
Nielsen, Sandro: The Bilingual LSP Dictionary, 1994
Ooi, Vincent, Computer Corpus Lexicography, 1998 http://www.fas.nus.edu.sg/ell/Vincent/
Jonathon Green, "Chasing the Sun - Dictionary-Makers and the Dictionaries They Made," Pimlico, ISBN 0-7126-6216-2